Leeds Park and Ride developments

A new 1,000-space park-and-ride site has opened in the Leeds area. The Temple Green Park and Ride, which will take the number of park-and-ride spaces in West Yorkshire to approaching over 4,500 including rail stations, is in the Aire Valley, near junction 45 of the M1. It is free to use during the first week of the new service (offer ending 24 June). Metro, West Yorkshire’s transport authority, has started a survey asking people’s views of the site. Buses run between 6am and 8.50pm on weekdays every ten to 15 minutes and every ten minutes between 7am and 7pm on Saturdays. Tickets are priced at £3 for a Day ticket or £2.70 when customers buy five or more on a smartcard, with up to three children traveling free with every fare-paying adult. Free wifi is available on all buses.

In addition to the new site, extended opening hours have been put in place at the Elland Road Park and Ride site in Leeds. In a move intended to meet growing demand, services from the facility are going to start earlier and continue later on weekdays. Sunday services are also being introduced. As a result of the service’s popularity with shoppers, weekday services now start an hour earlier at 6am, continuing through until 9pm, two hours later than the current end of service. On Sundays, Park and Ride buses will run between 10.15am and 5.40pm

Operations Director at First West Yorkshire, Will Pearson, said: “This is great news for our customers and a clear indication of the popularity for more Park & Ride sites in Leeds. We’re proud to be the official operator for the scheme, working in partnership with the Combined Authority and Leeds City Council, and look forward to welcoming more customers on-board the buses, as we continue to deliver fast, frequent and great value services, directly into Leeds City Centre.”